Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross branded ‘panto villain’ for tweet criticising drag story time event

Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross has criticised a council in his constituency for hosting a drag queen storytime event, but his reaction has garnered backlash from political opponents. 

Ross, who is MP for Moray, said in a tweet that it was “inappropriate” for the Moray Council to be holding the ‘Drag Queen Story Hour’ event, which is due to take place at Elgin Library this weekend. The event, which is part of the library’s celebrations for Pride Month, has been marketed as a “fun and interactive show suitable for children aged 0-6” and is set to be hosted by local drag act Miss Lossie Mouth. 

In his tweet, the Scottish Tory leader said: “It’s totally inappropriate to hold a show like this for kids under the age of six. Story time for babies and young kids shouldn’t focus on gender or sexual identity.

“That is common sense and on behalf of constituents who’ve contacted me, I’ve raised this with the council,” he continued.

His comments come as drag queen events across the country, in particular ‘storytime’ events which see drag acts reading stories to children, have faced increasing controversy and protests. Earlier this year, around 30 protesters from the far-right nationalist group Patriotic Alternative gathered outside the Tate Britain, which was holding a drag queen storytelling event, and campaigned against drag shows aimed at children. They were met by counter-protests in support of the LGBT+ community. 

Ross’ comments garnered backlash online with some calling out the hypocrisy of pantomime dames, which is traditionally performed by a male performer in drag, being a welcomed feature of the Christmas shows and marketed towards children. One person said: “Better ban pantos, then. Plenty of time before Christmas.”

The Scottish Greens lampooned the Tory leader, calling him a “pantomime villain” in response to his comments. 

The Scottish Greens Equalities spokesperson Maggie Chapman said: “Douglas Ross is showing his true colours. He’s cast himself as a pantomime villain with his preposterous and narrow minded attacks on a simple and innocent community event. 

“Why would anyone want to stop children from learning about the joys of reading and books? Or about the diversity of our families and communities?"

She continued: “Perhaps we should expect no better from a party that has defined itself against almost every step towards a more progressive and inclusive society.”

The party then accused the Tory leader of “desperately scraping the barrel for more cynical culture war nonsense” and accused the party of hypocrisy over so-called ‘cancel-culture’. 

Chapman said: “How can the Tories lecture us about so-called ‘cancel culture’ in one breath and then demand the cancellation of a library event because they don’t like the look of the person doing the reading? It seems that the only book he’s interested in is the far right playbook - that’s clearly where this latest outburst comes from.”

Green MSP Ross Greer accused the Moray MSP as being a “nasty little bigot” in a Tweet. The Scottish Tory responded to the statement saying: “Constituents in Moray have raised concerns about this event with me as their local MP, but clearly the Greens have no interest in having a grown-up discussion on this.

“Green MSPs constantly talk about using more respectful language in politics but then have resorted to saying raising concerns and constituent views is bigoted. I make no apologies for standing up for issues of importance to the people I represent in Moray, many of whom share my concern that this show is inappropriate for babies and young children.”

A spokeswoman for Moray Council confirmed that the event was still scheduled to go ahead despite Ross’ comments. They said: “We appreciate and accept that everyone has differing views on drag queens but believe our fun, lively and joyous celebration of reading and self-expression is a suitable way to encourage confidence in our young readers.

“We look forward to singing and reading together while breaking down some of those myths about libraries – it certainly won’t be quiet.”